Thursday, January 6, 2011

Romans in a Nutshell


The Theme of Romans: The Gospel of God[1]

Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord..(Romans1:1-3)

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:16-17).

The Gospel of God deals not only with our past, but with our present and future.

The Purpose of Romans: To show a full treatment of salvation. To explain how God credits to us His own personal righteousness. To confirm that the Gospel is not only forgiveness of sins, but also justification, sanctification, and glorification.

The content of Romans: Romans is the most comprehensive exposition on salvation in the New Testament. The four Gospels show how Christ was crucified, buried, and raised again. Romans shows how the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ apply to us. We can call Romans the Gospel of grace.

If we are to describe the content of Romans in seven key words, we would have the following:

    I.    Premise (ch. 1:1-17)
  II.    Condemnation (ch. 1:18 to 3:20)
III.    Justification (ch. 3:21 to 5:21)
 IV.    Sanctification (ch. 6:1 to 8:39)
   V.    Glorification (ch. 8)
 VI.    Sovereignty (ch. 9 to 11)
VII.    Application (ch. 12-16)




I. PREMISE   ch. 1:1-17

The premise sets the tone for the whole epistle. There are five main aspects in this introduction:

1.     The Romans epistle is the Gospel of God rooted in the Old Testament. Many concepts in Romans are the fulfillment of theological aspects of the Abrahamic Covenant. ...which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures (v. 2)

2.    The Gospel of God regards Christ in the first place. concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord (v.3) This is called theology from above meaning a theology from God’s point of view as opposed to the theology from below which emphasizes man’s perspective. Still, the Word of God contains theology from a human perspective too. We have the tendency to see ourselves at the center of the Gospel, and not Christ as the center. We are not neglected. We are placed in Christ, spiritually speaking.

3.     Christ is presented as the God-man with a dual nature, fully God and fully man. By His resurrection He attests of His divinity. Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. (v. 3-4)

4.     Believers in Rome in spite of their world renowned faith, needed the full presentation of the Gospel of God which was entrusted to the apostle Paul: your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also. (v. 8, 15)


5.    The Gospel of God is the same with the Gospel of Christ. The Gospel of Christ is the power of God for salvation both for Jews and the Greeks, meaning salvation was not intended for the Jews only. The Gospel of Christ reveals God’s righteousness not man’s righteousness. The power issue in verses 16 and 17 addresses the Greeks, the righteousness issue addresses the Jews. The Greeks were powerless philosophers in regards to spirituality, and they were in need for salvation. On the other hand, the Jews were full of self righteousness, and they needed to know the true righteousness that comes from God which was meant to bring them to salvation too. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”  (v. 16, 17)


II. CONDEMNATION  ch. 1:18 to 3:20


The wrath of God against sin and sinners is essential in understanding Romans. True repentance is the result of deep conviction caused by God’s wrath and condemnation against sin and the sinner. In these days of apostasy, there are many among evangelicals who are not genuinely saved because they heard only about God’s love, and not about God’s wrath.

God’s wrath is also central in understanding His love. When people want only God’s love, avoiding to acknowledge His wrath against sin, what they essentially want is God’s tolerance for their sin.

The Romans epistle teaches that all humans who live in sin are suppressing the truth. Therefore they find themselves under God’s wrath.
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (Romans 1:18)

In Romans there are two groups who represent the whole humanity: Jews and Gentiles. The Gentiles are guilty of sinful pagan practices. The Jews are guilty of self-righteousness and condemnation of Gentiles, while they themselves are practicing the same thing.

The following is a portrayal of the sin of the Jews before God. These words are very appropriate for the Evangelicals at large today: Indeed you are called a Jew, and rest on the law, and make your boast in God, and know His will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law, and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having the form of knowledge and truth in the law. You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal? You who say, “Do not commit adultery,” do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law? (Romans 2: 17-23)

On the other hand, the un-regenerated pagan mind and heart are full of pride. The result is futile thinking, arrogance, and ungratefulness toward God.
“..although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools.” (Romans 1:21-22)

If humans insist too much in their sinful behavior, God gives them up to their vile passions. The consequences are catastrophic.
“For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them. (Romans 1:26-32)

The non-believers are guilty before GOD and under absolute condemnation of His law.Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God” (Romans 3:19)


III. JUSTIFICATION  ch. 3:21 to 5:21

Along with the conviction, God provided a way out for the repenting nonbeliever. Although the nonbeliever is utterly condemned by His law, He gives the repentant individual, His own rightness as a gift. How? When he puts his trust in Jesus Christ, God credits His righteousness to him. The faith/trust issue is of paramount importance in Romans as well as in the New Testament. It is the only way to access God’s salvation.

From a former convict, God makes the believer a perfectly moral person in Christ. That means He justifies him. Justification is a court/forensic term. Justification is the act by which one is being declared not guilty by God, the Supreme Judge. Justification is the fundamental teaching of Salvation. God did not overlook sin, but put it on His Son at the cross and then He took Christ’s righteousness and put it on the believer. This is called substitution. As a consequence He declares the believer justified. Justification means acquittal plus moral perfectness. To what level of moral perfectness or righteousness? To God’s level of moral perfectness/righteousness. Remember, the moral perfectness is in Christ, as a position before God not in our walk.

But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:21-23)

Justification is a gift for us but its infinite price was incurred by God. This is why the grace of God has to be deeply appreciated and never taken for granted. The grace should never be transformed in cheap grace.

The basis for justification lies in the cross of Christ. There are two terms used by the apostle Paul to show us how justification was possible. Those two terms are: redemption and propitiation.

Redemption was a common occurrence in the first century where slaves were freed up from the slave market when a price was paid in their behalf. Some war prisoners were released in the same way. Christ paid to God the full price in our behalf liberating us form eternal condemnation.  being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus ” (Romans 3:24)

Propitiation was a term used uniformly by the ancient religions including the Old Testament and meant the appeasement of the wrath of gods or God. By propitiation the wrath of God against sinner is changed into mercy. The result is peace with God and reconciliation. Propitiation was obtained by blood sacrifice. “whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness” (Romans 3:25)

How the Grace of God works?

All these works of God in our behalf such as justification, redemption and propitiation are the expression of the Grace of God. Faith is no exception, it is granted to us by God, and it is not our product. Faith makes justification, redemption and justification accessible to us.  

Here is how grace is defined in the Roman epistle:  
“Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all” (Romans 4:16)

We see two things in the above verse: 1) faith is mentioned as opposite to works. Faith is according to grace and not to works. Faith not being works implies that is not of human origin but is of God. 2) Grace provides not only faith but also promises. Here in context are in view the promises made to Abraham. It is imperative to know that the promises made to Abraham are unconditional. The promises made to Abraham by faith are also bestowed upon us. The grace of God makes unconditional promises in relation to our salvation making sure that His plan with us will succeed. God also allows afflictions in our lives to ensure that we will not take the His grace for granted! (See next section).




IV. SANCTIFICATION  ch. 6:1 to 8:39

Sanctification is a lifetime process. Many believers view sanctification as a hardship because they think they have to respond to God with a perfect lifestyle to the favor of being justified. Romans has it differently; first we have to appropriate our spiritual benefits and then we will dedicate ourselves to a life of progression in practical holiness. The appropriation of our spiritual benefits is done by faith when we read chapter 5 of Romans.

Sanctification unavoidably brings in sufferings. There is no real sanctification without mortification of our fleshly desires. Trials only lead nowhere; trials allowed by God are meant to purge us of a lot of dross and build up Christ like character. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. (Romans 5:3-4). Many contemporary Christians want sanctification with no trials.

Important note: The Word of God operates with two distinct realms:
1) our spiritual position or status in Christ
                                                    2) our practical living.
                                     
The Apostle Paul coined the expression “in Christ”, and without that, it is impossible to understand the grace of God. In Christ, means we are already perfected spiritually speaking, because of His shed blood on the cross. We cannot improve our position in Christ, it is done, its there, it is ours for the glory of God and for our eternal joy. In Christ also means everything He gained for us at the cross, such as justification, holiness, and glorification and so on.  On the other hand, in the New Testament, practical living is called “walking”. Our walk is not perfect, but it is perfect-able.
God is concerned more with our attitude and interest regarding our relationship with Him and who we are in Christ rather than putting our walk in the first place. To create the right attitude in us, God needs to brake us down, like the Marines who are broken down in their will in the booth camp. When our attitude toward Him and the Gospel is right, He is free to work a life of practical holiness in us. We have the tendency to do self sanctification and that is why God needs to brake us down in order that we will pay attention to His way of sanctification. He will deal with our imperfect walk by grace constantly crediting to us Christ’s perfect obedience. Why do I use the term practical holiness? The reason is many people have a blurry view on holiness. When they think of holiness, they don’t make a distinction between positional holiness and practical holiness. Positional holiness is the same as the justification which we already saw. But practical holiness is a different story. We are morally perfect not in practicality, but in our spiritual position in Christ. In our walk down here, we are imperfect because we live in an imperfect body, we have a sinful nature, and therefore perfect practical holiness can never be attained. However, everyday, the Holy Spirit will work in us more and more practical holiness. So sanctification in terms of practical holiness, is a lifetime process. God does not expect perfect-ness in our walk, but He expects of us a perfect desire to be holy, which will translate into freedom for the Holy Spirit to work sanctification in us. The difference between positional holiness and practical holiness is crucially important for the believer to understand how the growth process works and what God expects from us.

Justification brings along all the benefits from God. We have peace and reconciliation with Him. Remember, we were under God’s wrath. However, we now have access to a state of great favor from God, called grace. God gave us the Holy Spirit too. We now have security of our salvation as well.
“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God…God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us…God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.” (Romans 5:1,2,4;8-11)

Many contemporary so called “Christians” today, think that after they are saved, they can go on with their former lifestyle. By no means! God calls us to be slaves of righteousness. We had enough of sin slavery in our lives. Being a slave of righteousness does not mean humiliation, but holiness!
I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.” (Romans 6:19)

In spite of our best efforts as believers sanctification comes to a deadlock. We call on God to help us live holier lives and he does not answer the way we expect. The apostle Paul experienced the same situation. Why? The apostle (including us) had to learn how to go from self-sanctification to God’s way of sanctification. Our sanctification is God’s work with our full cooperation.

GOD’S WAY OF SANCTIFICATION IS THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE LIFE OF THE BROKEN BELIEVER, AFTER HE/SHE DID HIS/HER BEST IN SELF-SANCTIFICATION.
“I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.…O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?…For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Romans 7:18,19,24; 8:2-4)  

God reminds us that we are free of condemnation. Why? Because when we don’t live the way God expects, Satan will come to condemn us. We will also condemn ourselves. God says there is no condemnation for us whatsoever; spiritually we are in Christ Jesus and nothing can touch our position. The Holy Spirit will convict us of sins and we are required to confess them, not to condemn ourselves.
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus..” (Romans 8:1)

A simple way to check if you are truly a Christian is by the active presence of the Holy Spirit. He will lead you. He will make you call God your Heavenly Father, and you will know you are a child of God. Another way of knowing if you are truly a Christian is if you are suffering for the cause of Christ.
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, Father. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.” (Romans 8:14-17)

The Holy Spirit will teach us how to pray. Prayer is vital for a holy life.
Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us[with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.” (Romans 8:26-27)

If you are truly a Christian you will remain one forever. Your faith will sometimes be utterly challenged, but God will see you through. The guarantee that you will make it to heaven is God Himself and His infinite love!
"What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: “ For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”  Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:31-39)

V. GLORIFICATION

From God’s point of view we are already glorified; meaning, we are already conformed in Christ’s image. And this is all that matters, because He will bring it to completion.
 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. (Romans 8:29,30)


VI. SOVEREINGTY

Sinners never look for God on their own. God constrains us to surrender to Him. Our salvation is the work of the Sovereign God from the beginning to the end. Of course we will exercise faith and repentance but after the Holy Sprit worked in us.  We are predestined by God to be saved and to become like Christ concerning His moral nature. In God’s plan in relation to our eternal destiny everything is worked out, even our glorification. Still, as far as our existence here we have choices as believers. We have the freedom to obey or to disobey God. However the disobedient believer will be corrected by God. If you are truly saved and humble, you will have no problem with predestination. Predestination makes people totally commit to God. If you are truly saved, you will worship God for that reason. For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion. So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy”  “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen. (Romans 9:15-16; 11:36;)

VII. APPLICATION

Again, if you are genuinely saved, you will be at God’s disposal. You will be eager to know your call and you will look forward to serve your brothers and sisters in Christ.

“Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.“ (Romans 12:6-12)




[1] The Gospel of God is the same with the Gospel of Christ